Gaining Momentum
by alinktomyheart
Summary: The yearly illegal drag race was something you usually avoided, but you decided to take the risk this year. Meeting Hoseok at the race may have just played out in your favour. (BTS, J-Hope, Dope!AU)


You look yourself over in the mirror, checking your outfit, makeup and hair to make sure it's perfect. Light wash skinny jeans, a grey pullover sweater and black sneakers cover your frame. Your makeup is simple, some light mascara, and your hair is up in a ponytail. You glance at the clock; 12:03 AMit reads. You wouldn't usually be going out this late on a Tuesday night, actually, this late on _any_ day of the week, but tonight was different.

You wanted to step out of your comfort zone, do something rebellious for once, and what better way than to attend the yearly, yet _very_ illegal, nighttime drag race. It's held at the beginning of autumn each year, kind of as a goodbye to summer as the school year begins. Students from the local college plan it, and it's surprising to see that they still haven't gotten caught. You were a straight A student, in a good college, and you've never even gone to a house party. But here you were, letting your friend talk you into something that just a few months ago you would have never agreed to.

You grab your small backpack containing your phone, keys, wallet and a bottle of water, and leave your room, quietly closing the door to make sure no one in your home notices you leaving. You would be in _so_ much trouble if your parents found out that you were going out this late, let alone going to attend the drag race that all adults loath in this city.

You make your way downstairs and go through the sliding doors that open to the backyard, pleased that no noise was made. As soon as you step onto the porch, you send a text to your friend letting them know you're on your way.

 _You: Just got out of my house, I'll be there in 15._

 _Y/F/N: Sweet, see you soon ;)._

…..

You can hear the loud music and loud voices of the crowds gathered once you enter the general area of the race. A faint smell of marijuana and beer wafts around in the air as you enter the field. You immediately send a text to your friend asking her where she is, and she replies saying that she's at the garage, where all the cars about to race are.

You make your way there, already seeing her from a distance.

"Y/F/N!" You call out. She turns her head and smiles, waving you over. Once you reach her, she welcomes you with a hug.

"How was the walk over?" She asks.

You shrug. "Not too bad actually, it's a cool night."

She nods in response, turning her attention back to the cars in front of her. You see six cars parked along the the garage, groups of people surround a few of them, talking to the drivers that lean against their cars that will soon be racing down the streets that circle the outskirts of the city.

"So where do you think they'll drive around this year?" Your friend asks.

"I don't really know," you reply. "They pick a different route each year so that it's harder to get caught."

"Yeah." She shoots you a quirky smile. "I wonder who's going to win."

You hum in response. "Me too."

You turn your head back to the cars and see someone come out from the inside, clad in black leather pants and a black leather jacket adorned with red and white stripes, holding his helmet under his right arm. You recognize him instantly.

 _Jung Hoseok._

Star student by day, drag racer by night. It still amazes you how he's managed to keep both separate, how he's managed to keep his drag racing a secret from the entire city; How he's managed to make it to his last year in college, getting the grades only few receive and most wish for.

He's _also_ been the winner for the last two years, and you wonder if he's going to continue his winning streak with another win tonight.

He runs his hand through his sleek black hair before leaning back against the front of his car. Your friend turns to you and notices you staring in his direction.

"Go talk to him," she says.

You snap out of your gaze after hearing her words. "What? No way."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh come on, you've talked to him before, it's not like he doesn't know who you are. It'll be completely normal."

You sigh in response, knowing that she's right. You _have_ talked to him before, and you guess you technically are friends, although you still don't really know him.

"Okay, but only for a couple of minutes." Your friend shoos you away in his direction as soon as you agree.

You hesitantly walk towards him. You really don't know why you're nervous, but then again, how could you _not_ be nervous. Hoseok is three years older than you, a senior in college, about to participate in a very illegal race, and you shouldn't even get started on his incredibly _good looks._ If that isn't the biggest contrast to little old you, you don't know what is. You realize you didn't even think of what you were going to say to him. _Just don't embarrass yourself,_ you think.

He looks up and sees you walking towards him. He smiles, but his expression contains slight confusion.

"Y/N? You came to the race?" He asks, amused.

His expression is friendly, the smile lighting up his face.

"I wasn't going to originally, to be honest," you reply with an awkward giggle. You look over to your friend and see that her attention is turned to something else. "My friend kind of talked me into coming."

He smirks. "You didn't really catch me as someone to do really… _adventurous_ stuff," he states humorously. You and Hoseok have only really seen each other on campus when studying with other friends, and every time your friends would go out to do something fun, you would always say that you had to study and couldn't go. _No wonder he thinks I'm no fun._

You grin, moving past your negative thoughts. "Yeah, I'm honestly not, this is the first thing I've done in my life that counts as adventurous."

"What do you usually do for fun then?" He questions.

"Uhh." You move your gaze away from him for a few seconds while thinking. "I like reading, and when I do go out I usually go to cafes with my friends to hang out."

He nods as you finish speaking. "Hmm, well, I guess you'll be in for a surprise tonight." He grins.

You laugh at his response, shaking your head in agreement.

He continues to look at you with his amused expression. "Well, I'm happy I could be apart of your very first adventurous outing." He stands up off his car, moving a step closer to you.

You tilt your head upwards as now he's standing taller than you, the proximity between you two smaller. You notice his gaze hasn't moved, still directed to your eyes, and your face suddenly feels warmer than before, a slight blush sweeping your cheeks.

His tongue slips past his lips wetting them. "Are you doing anything after this?" He asks, voice lowered an octave.

"Uh, n-no, I'm not." You say with some nervousness, knowing that it will be _very_ late after the race, and you would want to be home at some point.

"Come back here after the race, if you want to do something." He winks before walking away to join the drivers and announcer standing on the other side of the garage.

You can't help but feel happy, but also extremely anxious as you don't know what you just got yourself into.

…..

You joined your friend again after your little encounter with Hoseok and were instantly bombarded with questions of _what happened? What did he say? What did_ you _say?_ You avoided all of the questions with just a simple response of _nothing really, we just talked about the race._ Although, you still feel like your friend didn't fully buy it.

You're sitting on the hill on the side of the main road, a bit farther up than everyone else for a good view. From here, you can see the starting line and finish line, and also some of the road down the mountain.

Both you and your friend sit on a blanket she brought and munch on chips. You notice just how out of place you are when you both drink from your water bottles instead of a beer bottles like most of the others gathered.

All of a sudden the crowd erupts in cheers, and you look down to see the cars driving out of the garage slowly towards the white line painted on the road. You see Hoseok drive out last, his sleek black car patterned with two red stripes on each side, matching his clothing attire. His windows are up and tinted to a very dark colour, and you assume it's so that his identity is kept undercover.

The announcer takes his place in front of the cars, standing in the middle of the two rows of three. The crowd gets rowdier, yelling and screaming as they await for the race to begin. He raises his checkered flag in the air, and the engines of the cars roar to life, ready to speed off any second. You look down, your gaze not faltering one bit as you await for the announcer to throw down his flag, signalling for the race to begin.

Before you know it, the flag is thrown down, and the cars speed forward, smoke billowing from behind their tires from the friction. The crowd closest to the road starts to run onto the road as the cars disappear down the road, some of them even running after the cars. The engines from the cars are still heard even once they've left the vicinity.

"Did you see how fast they drove off?" Your friend asks excitedly. She stands up off of the blanket, standing on her tippy toes to see if she can see anything.

"I can't see them anymore, but you can still hear them," she states.

You stand up and stand by your friend, looking out into the roads below the field. You stay silent, listening, and you indeed can hear a faint sound of the cars as they drive along somewhere near.

"Oh! I see headlights!" Your friend exclaims.

You look down and see on a winding road in between some trees, the headlights of the six cars.

"Can you see which car is in the lead?" You ask.

Your friend shakes her head no. "They all look black from up here!" She laughs.

You laugh as well, agreeing. You sit back down, thinking that it might be a while before they make it back to the finish line. You wonder about what Hoseok meant when he said to meet him back at the garage after the race. Will he want to hang out with you and the others? Or just you by yourself? What does he have planned anyways?

You feel your friend sit down next to you. "So are you going to go home after the race?" She asks, as if reading your mind.

You turn to look at her, and you see her looking at you with a neutral expression. "Uhhm, well, Hoseok told me to go meet with him after the race."

The corners of your friend's mouth turn upwards into a smile. "Really?"

You nod your head yes, not really knowing what to say.

"Are you… going to go?"

You let out a sigh. "I don't know, should I?"

Your friend looks up, probably in thought. "Well, Hoseok is a good guy, the drag racing is the only thing he does that's illegal, and even then, it's only because he knows he has a good chance of winning. I mean, he's a good student, he doesn't do drugs, I feel like you could hang out with him." Your friend finishes with a smile.

You think her words through. You've always seen him as a friendly person and someone you can talk to, but it'll be almost 1:30 AM by the time they get back and Hoseok is able to leave. You're not sure about if you really want your first hangout with Hoseok to be this late at night.

"I just don't know what he wants to do, I mean it's in the middle of the night," you state.

"Well, it's not like you don't have any say in what you're going to do, Y/N."

She's right. "Okay, I'll go and find him after the race then."

Your friend gives you a warm smile before her eyes dart behind you. She suddenly stands up and yells, "they're coming!"

You turn your head and from a distance you see headlights. Cheers from the crowd get louder as the people standing at the finish line clear the road and stand on the sidelines. The cars come closer and closer, and you can finally differentiate between them. You smile when you see Hoseok's car a solid amount past the others. You join your friend standing and you start to cheer as well.

You watch happily as Hoseok zooms past the crowd, only slowing down once he's crossed the white finish line, symbolizing his win. His car stops on the gravel by the road to leave room for the other drivers that are just finishing. His door opens and he gets out, shooting his arms in the air which makes everyone scream louder.

As the other drivers get out of their cars, they all take off their helmets and exchange handshakes and pats on the back. They line up around the announcer who hands Hoseok a golden trophy, which he also holds up proudly.

You don't realize that the entire time you've been smiling until your friend nudges your arm.

"Go down to him," she says.

You raise one of your eyebrows. "Now?"

"Well he did say after the race, didn't he?" she smirks.

"…Yeah."

She starts to pack up her stuff, throwing the water bottle and bag of chips in her bag. "And it's after the race, isn't it?"

You help her roll up the blanket while you two talk. "It is."

She puts the blanket in her backpack and zips it up, throwing it over her shoulder before looking at you. "Then make your way down there."

You hum. "Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow." You say. She hugs you goodbye before starting to make her way down the hill.

"I expect to receive some juicy news!"

You chuckle from her remark, and throw your own stuff into your backpack before making your way down the hill too.

…..

Crowds of people block the road as you try to make your way through to the garage. You see people crowding the cars, talking to the drivers, and most of them surround Hoseok; he's smiling as he talks to the people around him. You approach him slowly, not wanting to interrupt any conversations.

He turns his head in your direction looking over the crowd until his eyes stop on you. He looks at you with no expression for a second before grinning. You flash him a grin back, moving closer to where he's standing.

You hear him answer questions asked like _how many years have you been driving? Have you always had an interest in racing? What would you do if you got caught?_ You don't really listen to the answers, you more just stand there looking at the way he speaks, the way he accentuates what he's saying with hand movements; how he leans his back against the side of his car so casually as if he _didn't_ just win a gold trophy. You don't notice him look at you for a few seconds, his thoughts about how your attention is completely on him.

You suddenly hear the faint sound of a siren, snapping you out of your daze. You turn, seeing red and blue lights flashing behind trees as the cars drive towards the field.

"Shit," Hoseok mutters.

The crowds start to run away, some towards their own parked cars, some behind the trees to try to hide. You came on foot, and have no idea if you should run with the people since you don't have a car; your feet are frozen to the ground in shock.

You look up and see Hoseok walking towards you. "What are you doing just standing there!" Hoseok grabs your arm and drags you over to the passenger side of the car. "We have to get out of here!" He exclaims.

You stand there for a second before he sighs and opens the car door for you. You're still in shock and you cautiously climb into the car, sitting down and throwing your backpack near your feet.

It only takes a second for Hoseok to run over to the other side, opening his door and starting the car as soon as he sits down. The engine roars to life and before you know it he's driving out from his parked spot onto the road, speeding off.

"Seat belts," he states. You do as he says, buckling yours and watching as he does the same.

He checks his rear view mirror, seeing the flashing lights disappear along with the people still back there in the field. He lets out a breath he was holding and glances over at you, noticing your blank stare.

"Hey," he says gently. "Don't worry, you won't get caught," he reassures you. You move your gaze to him and nod your head.

You clear your throat before speaking, hoping it won't sound shaky. "Thank you, for getting me out of there," you say.

You see him smile, his focus locked onto the road ahead. "Well, you did say you don't really do much adventurous stuff, I wouldn't really want you to get caught the first time you do."

You hum. "My parents would kill me if they found out I came tonight."

"You live with your parents?" He asks. The both of you are more relaxed now, knowing that you're far away from the grounds of the race.

"Yeah, I was planning on moving out sometime soon, but I haven't really made that much money yet to do so," You state.

He nods slightly as he listens. "I see."

"Do you live alone?" You ask.

He shakes his head no. "I live with a couple of friends, I moved out of my parents about two years ago."

He approaches a red light, slowing down and you notice that you're back in town. He relaxes against his seat, placing his hands down onto his lap as he waits for the light to turn green.

"So, where are we going?" You question.

He looks at you for a second before noticing the light turn green. "I thought you wanted to go home, after all of that that just happened."

"Oh, okay," you reply. You don't know whether you should expect him to be this considerate, or be shocked.

He raises an eyebrow. "Did you… want to go somewhere else?"

You move in your seat and lean your arm on the arm rest. "Uh, we can," you begin. "I don't necessarily _want_ to go home, yet."

A smirk pulls at his lips. "Really?" He asks, seemingly flirting with the idea.

You hum positively in return, flashing a grin when he glances towards you.

"I don't really think we'll find much to do at two in the morning, though." He shifts in his seat, placing one of his hand on the arm rest. "Unless…"

You're curious. "Unless what?"

He hesitates for a moment. "Would you… want to see where I practice?"

You raise both your eyebrows, taken aback. "You mean like, where you practice racing?"

"Yes," he replies simply.

You see him nibble on his bottom lip, slightly nervous as to what your response will be. The thought of him showing you where him, and possibly the other racers practice interests you.

"Sure."

He glances at you, surprised with your quick response. "Really?"

You look at him in confusion. "Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know, I thought the first time I took you out would be different."

You snap your head up, wondering if you heard him right. "Like, take me out on a date?" You ask.

The smile fades from his face and a look of anxiety covers it. He cards his fingers through his hair, grasping the back before releasing and putting his hand back on the wheel with a sigh. "Is.. uh, do you not want to, would you… uh."

You giggle at his nervousness; he looks at you perplexed. "Hoseok, of course I'd like to go on a date with you."

His face relaxes, no longer showing any tension. "You would?"

You can't help but grin. "Yes, and if it happens to be this, than that's okay."

"Good," he reacts.

"Where did confident drag racer Hoseok go?" you retort teasingly.

He parks his car on the side of a road, covered by gravel. You notice another road breaking off of this one, and you wonder if this is the place. He scoffs at your remark, jokingly hurt before his expression returns to its cheery one. "I wasn't _that_ nervous about your response."

"Really, cause I thought I saw beads of sweat appear on your forehead." You reach your hand over and attempt to place it on his forehead. Before you can, he takes hold of your hand and instead brings your knuckles to his lips and places a quick kiss, locking his eyes with yours as he does so.

"I was only nervous because I cared about what your response would be," he says in a whisper. He rearranges the hold on your hand, and fits his fingers in between yours before placing both your hands down onto your thigh. "I promise you, this weekend, I will take you out on a proper date like the _gentleman_ I am."

You snort before bursting out laughing. He pokes your side before he too can't help but chuckle.

Once you calm down, you stare up into his eyes and you see a content expression gazing back at you. "I would love for you to take me out on a proper date like the _gentleman_ you are," you emphasize just like he did. "But, right now I would really like if you showed me where you do all your _illegal_ racing."

He shakes his head chuckling before changing gears and driving forwards once again.

You can only wonder if all of the other times with Hoseok will be just as exciting as this.


End file.
